talented legislative aides, and you're not going to find someone who works harder and who understands the rules of how the legislative process works better and who understands the importance of connecting those rules and that process to what happens on the ground. it really has been a pleasure to work with her and i haven't been an elected supervisor without her. so, it will be an adjustment for me and many people in my office. but we as a city are certainly very fortunate that we've had the opportunity to have her service. and it's an interesting week, historic week, not only is it the last board meeting or the last week for sheila. i know we have another one of our colleagues who will be leaving. and i think in two days the pope is also retiring. so, i don't know, at some point someone may want to do a study and see if the connection

between pope bennedictedict xvith, supervisor chiu, and sheila might be a connection. i want to take this opportunity to thank sheila and we'll certainly miss her. the rest i'll submit. >> thank you, supervisor campos. supervisor carmen chu. [laughter] >> supervisor carmen chu? mr. president, seeing no other names on -- mr. president, forgive me. supervisor cohen would like to be re-referred. >> thank you very much, colleagues. hi, san franciscans. today i'm introducing an ordinance i've been working with with the neighborhoods of the bayview as well as the community department to establish a neighborhood notification requirement for parcel zone pdr1b. i'm sad to say this legislation was actually borne out of an unfortunate incident. late last year the old berkeley farms milk plant on oakdale avenue was demolished with no notification to the immediate

neighbors and resulted in numerous notices of violation and a stop work order. when we went through -- when we went through nearly a decade long process to create the eastern neighborhood plan, what we established a special zoning category that recognized a particular area of the bayview where we have heavy industrial uses immediately across the street from single-family homes. the contractor in this case clearly made a calculation that if they needed to share their plans with the neighbors before they began their work, that they likely would have a very different project and certainly a different process. so, this legislation that i'm introducing today will require a neighborhood notification meeting before any building is partially or completely demolished or significantly altered in this area. as our city economy is picking up, we are starting to see entities purchasing these large pdr parcels. so, it is essential we have

notice requirements in place to ensure that something like this just doesn't happen again. long gone are the days when just because you're doing work in the southeastern neighborhoods you can get away without reaching out to your neighbors or [speaker not understood] the scope of your permit. supervisor, i'm very diligent and vigilant of these instances as are the constituents i represent and this legislation will ensure that they have a voice on what will take place in their neighborhood. now, while we have been successful in ensuring this contractor is heavily fined and have been supportive of the neighbor's efforts at the board of permit appeals, this legislation will ensure that * another project like this one doesn't slip under the radar by exploiting loopholes in our planning code. so, i have also two in memoriams i'd like to offer. first is recognizing the life and contributions of reverend

wenzel philip jackson. you might recognize this name. it is actually the son of ruth jackson. wenzel was born june 15th, 1956 and was raised in san francisco visitacion valley community. he's a graduate of woodrow wilson high school and participated in team sports such as tennis and softball. he worked at merrill lynch 15 years where he developed his management skills and later left corporate life to pursue his calling in pastoral ministry. he leaves behind to cherish his memory his best friend and his loving wife tamara hall man jackson, his parents of washington, d.c., and ruth jackson, also affectionately known as polly. she's a leader right here in our own visitacion valley community. he left behind four brothers,

brian, drew, james, and lorenzo and one brother-in-law, raphael who resides in hollywood, california. so, please join me in lifting up our dear friend and sister ruth jackson as she mourns the loss of one of her children. on another note, another sad note, i also want to lift up another mother of the bayview community that has lost her son. many of you know ms. espinola jackson. she recently lost her daughter to a battle of cancer. ms. yvonne jackson harris was born february 9, 1956. she attended san francisco public schools and in the fourth grade she had already mastered algebra. she, too, was a graduate of wood drone wilson but from the class of 1973. she worked at the southeast ambulatory center health care, san francisco general as a [speaker not understood] health sebastian at therthv. she leaves to mourn her mother, two children, four

grandchildren, five siblings and a whole host of nieces and nephews. she passed away february 17. her mother espinola and yvonne actually share the same birth date. so, please as a point of reference, please know that the service will be held tomorrow, february 27th at 12:00 noon at grace tabernacle church located at 1121 oakdale avenue. and, colleague, the rest i submit and thank you, madam chair, for re-referring me. >> thank you, supervisor cohen. mr. president, that concludes roll call for introductions. >> thank you, madam clerk. colleagues, we have a number of special commendations before we start our black history month presentation. so, i'd first like to ask supervisor kim if you could make your presentation. >> thank you. in addition to adjourning today's meeting in memory of cornelia, i did want to recognize some of the brave men

and women who were there on that evening. i want to bring them forward. so, i want to invite up the men and women of battalion 3 and divisions 3 of the san francisco fire department and also mr. jeffery chambers as well if he is here. >> good afternoon, president chiu -- >> i'm sorry. i'm going to speak about you first. that's okay. [laughter] >> i'll be brief. i already spoke about the incident today. and while it is tragic, it also highlights some of our amazing everyday heroes and public servants that we have within our own community. san francisco firefighters, as i mentioned, responded immediately to the distressed call. and two of the firefighters and one neighbor, mr. jeffery chambers, who actually lived two houses down from the building -- and i know your son well, mr. chambers, it's good to see you here -- all tried to

rescue cornelia and sustained many injuries when the second floor collapsed. today i'm really honored to acknowledge these brave men and women of battalion 3 division 3 of the san francisco firefighters and of course our neighbor community housing partnership tenant mr. jeffery. along with our treasure island community that is here today. we have our chief dave franklin who is the incident commander of the day during the fire and who has been with sf fire department for over two decades as well as deputy chief operations mark gonzalez who is a san francisco native and has served since 1989. and i just want to read the commendation. this is in recognition of your teamwork, bravery and selfless act of heroism in the early morning of february 16, 2013 when the men and women of the san francisco fire department and one of our neighbors risked their lives in an attempt to save another. the board of supervisors extends its highest commendation and profound gratitude during this difficult

time of mourning and healing. * the treasure island community who is here today and the board of supervisors wish to thank you for reminding us what an honor it is to be a public servant. and i think we often talk about what it means to be a public servant and a city employee, but i think the men and women of fire truck department truly exemplify what it means to be a hero for our neighborhood. and i think that, you know, we would have no hope if we didn't have re dents like mr. chambers who are just kind of willing to step out of their comfort zone. and even without training, know that there is a life that needs to be saved and goes in kind of without any fear, but truly brave men and women to see that. i just wanted to honor you all today. so, thank you. (applause)

>> i thank you all. like i say, i had a chance to go in. [speaker not understood] melted down on me. second degree burns all over. [speaker not understood]. the glass blew me out and picking glass out of my arm. that's okay. i'd do it again. hallelujah. (applause) >> thank you, supervisor. the fire department appreciates

the recognition. our obvious wish it was a different outcome. we feel for the girl who lost her life, but thank you. (applause) >> thank you, supervisor kim. our next set of commendations will be offered by our district 4 colleague, supervisor mar. >> thank you, president chiu. i'd like to ask if fred ross,

jr., can come forward. if sharon johnson is here as well, and any others that are here to join me and my colleagues in honoring fred ross, senior. colleagues, as people come forward, let me just ask for your support. today we stand here to honor an amazing legend of community organizing and labor movement organizing, fred roth senior. i'd like to thank supervisors avalos and campos and long-time community activist sharon johnson for bringing this to us. fred roth, senior, was an inspiration to many of us, especially those that have been community organizers like myself. he trained an army of organizers, not just for the united farm workers, but for many different struggles historically. and it's really an honor for me to stand here before you with

fred roth, junior, and others to urge your support to join hundreds of other labor and community and civic organizationses and groups in urging president obama to bestow the presidential medal of honor post hume usly on fred senior. his entire life work was spirited and defiant in the struggle for freedom and dignity, especially for lower income workers, not just farmers, but disinfran hiesed and depressed communities not just the state of california, but nation wood. a more proactive struggle for equity and human dignity for everyone. i wanted to also say that a little bit of history is important. in the '50s mr. roth worked in the latino communities and barrios of los angeles, san jose, and other cities to build chapters of the cso or community service organizations, civil rights and civil improvement groups in california and arizona.

the founding leaders of the cv so included members of the steel workers, clothing workers, meat cutters and other unions. and they formed the core of cso's early leadership who built a powerful coalition that included the naacp, the japanese american citizens league, the catholic church and the jewish community together as they fought for fair housing, employment, and working conditions. one of the biggest victories came in the wake of a severe beating of seven men. five of them latinos by the los angeles police department on christmas day 1951 known as bloody christmas, leaving the victims with broken bones and ruptured organs, but pressure from the cso forced the l.a.p.d., which routinely harassed and abused african americans and hi cannot owes and latinos, they documented complaints and keeping up public pressure in the media. * they eventually resulted in the unprecedented indictment of the eight police officers and the first grand injury indictments

of the officers and the first criminal convictions for the use of excessive force in the department's history. * in addition, the l.a.p.d. suspended 39 police officers and transferred another 54 officers. it is through work like this where he encountered -- fred roth encountered and trained many of the individuals who went on to play important roles in american political and civic life. i also wanted to say that in 1952, while mr. roth was building the cso chapter in san jose, a public health told him about a young man named cesar chavez, a young navy veteran who lived with his wife in a barrio called [speaker not understood] if you can. get out if you can. at first chavez avoided roth thinking he was another white social worker or sociologist curious about the barrio resident exotic habits. but he finally agreed to meet with roth who that night wrote in his journal, this is according to the journal, i think i've found the guy i've been looking for, chavez

recalled, that as time went on, fred became sort of my hero. i saw him organize and i wanted to learn. and after that fred roth trained cesar chavez first as a cso leader then as one of cso organizers and eventually as a statewide director. roth also trained a young teacher named dolores huerta and gilbert padilla, dry cleaning establishment, cso activist. and chavez and padilla joined forces to form the united farm workers union and the movement starting in the '60s. during his 15 year tenure with the ufw, fred roth, senior, trained 2000 organizers who led worker strikes and consumer boycotts in every major u.s. and canadian city leading to major gains for farm workers and to the 1975 california agricultural labor relations act which remains the strongest labor law in the nation today.

author and labor historian barry mcwilliams, the author of factories in the field of southern california country in island on the land and a long-time editor of the nation magazine describes fred roth as, "an unsung hero" and called him a man of exasperating modesty, the kind that never sleeps, that never steps forward to claim his fair share of credit for any enterprise in which he is involved. i just wanted to ask, colleagues, if you'll join me with the many community based groups in labor in supporting fred roth in your -- for this medal and distinction, the presidential medal of freedom. and as we vote on this later, i urge your support. and now i'd like to introduce you to fred roth, jr., who has tremendous history himself in our movement. fred roth, jr. (applause) >> thank you.

i want to first thank the members of the supervisors for once again continuing the proud tradition and legacy of san francisco of being first. in my lifetime i've been doing this myself for 40 years, as a proud second generation organizer, influenced both by my father and my mother francis, who was a trail blazer in her own right. * frances. she what the first woman ever in california legislative history to break through the barriers that kept women in the stenography pool. she was hired to be an advocate for social justice up there. and she was a strong influence on my father opening doors for women and people of color beginning in the early 1940s when he hired a young frightened japanese american internee who came from the camps in idaho to cleveland,

ohio. and a year later she learned how to stand up and fight for herself and for her community and fight and challenge first at leave land, then here in san francisco the illegal unjust discriminatory hiring practices. i was fortunate in 181 to be at my father's side when he testified at the [speaker not understood] sear i in san francisco. that is an often overlooked part of his proud legacy. and i didn't learn until after he died that the parents that he organized in orange county in the late 1940s went on to file and win the first successful school desegregation lawsuit in the country, thurgood marshall came out to meet with the attorneys. that's another landmark he was part of that i'm proud of. (applause) >> i might not look like it, but i was first raised in east l.a.

[laughter] >> east l.a., [speaker not understood]. so, that part of the history i'm proud of, too, because of the men and women who formed that coalition and registered to vote and built powerful coalitions. that's why they're able to get the district attorney of l.a. to prosecute those guys. and the story that my father told the night he met chavez turned it around. it's the powerful story. i read my father's notes of that meeting. he described going to the chavez home, not knowing how suspicious and skeptical cesar was. he writes the first 10 minutes, this meeting isn't going anywhere, i can't get anybody to look up at me. my stories are falling flat. i'm going to have a big failure. and then he wrote, then it came to me, cesar chavez were best friends of san quentin, not stanford. i knew the story i had to tell as the story of bloody christmas like i never told it in my life. that's how he painted a picture of how you build power whether you take on corporate interest

or corrupt politicians or any other opponent you have. he described it to me and others. your father painted a picture to me of power so thick i could taste it. he did that time and time again and i trained thousands of us to do it in people's living rooms, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood take on tough odds whether it was the reagan admission. d -- administration. we celebrated dee vainesting ronald reagan, unjust treatment in nicaragua, drugs. (applause) >> mao father and i crisscrossed the country training organizers in places like memphis. i never knew i had an accent until i got to memphis. people said, you're not from around here, are you? [laughter] >> we had friends there, mid south peace justice center had a tee shirt that said, mid south peace and justice center.

show'em, y'all. welcome to memphis. [laughter] >> i think and i know if he were here today he would have already been on the front lines with the dreamers. he would be in the forefront of inclusive broad immigration reform. (applause) >> and he would be pressing hard to make sure that the politics that's possible is much broader so that when you start the debate, you start over here with the most progressive position so that when it's over you're not way the hell over here. [laughter] (applause) >> that's the lesson he taught us and that's why jerry brown signed the best god dam labor law in the country 25 years ago because the farm workers and i was one of them organized a bunch of 20,000 people to modesto with politicians in sack acto let them know we were alive and well and kicking. and 10,000 farm workers went to sackv sack to make sure they got the message. that changed the climate up there, right? * sacramento >> those are lifelong lessons that we ought to be acting on.

i know i'm going to be at the side of the dreamers and other immigrants fighting like hell in the next few months. i just want to thank you all for honoring my father and i want to especially single out mini sill bert who wanted to be here with all her heart today. with all her heart. i talked to her for 15 minutes. my father and i worked with [speaker not understood] for the last 40 years. i want to thank [speaker not understood]. (applause) >> [speaker not understood], say a few words for de lancy street. >> i am a member of the de lancy street foundation. it is just so great to be up here to see the name roth being honored in this fashion. we've had an association and a very close relationship with the roth family, both senior and junior and it thrills my heart because i came in as a crazy drug addict, didn't know anything about anything. and through their efforts i found out that there was really, real issues going on in life besides drugs and crime and prison that we were all involved with. and our minds were opened.

we were able to support, learn, and be educated in how to stand up for the right things in life. one thing that i can say about the roth family, they didn't stand up for bull s., that whenever an issue was right, that's what they stood for. whether it was popular or not popular. a lot of times they caught a lot of heat for it but it didn't matter to them because they believed in doing what was right for the people that were in need of that. it was just again great to see that that name is being honored today. >> thank you. (applause) >> fred, let me just say that we have a number of african-american or black history month honor aloees in a month coming up in ray moment. * i want to acknowledge labor president mike casey in the audience. (applause) >> i want to thank you for [speaker not understood] to our doors. we have this coming up on our -- for a vote. >> your oscar time is up. a [laughter] >> i want to say supervisor

avalos and campos are co-sponsoring this commendation with me and i wondered if they wanted to say a few words. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, supervisor mar. i think you said it all. i actually had the honor of working with fred ross junior when i was with the [speaker not understood] campaign. learned a lot from that effort and was able to realize that a lot of the work we did, the techniques we used as union organizers came from his father, fred roth. that contribution is huge was of the work that he did bring science to how we organize. that's actually changed the nation. that's the impact that fred roth senior has had on the world and i just want to all be here in your presence. thank you. (applause) >> thank you. i don't want to repeat what's been said. but, you know, i was meeting with dolores huerta just a

couple days ago and i was really surprised that someone like her would be supporting our effort to add harvey milk's name to the airport. (applause) >> what she talked to me about was how she learned about the enter connection of every human being and that every cause for justice and equality is one that concerns all of us regardless of where you come from and where you are. * and i think that's the lesson, that people like dolores learned from your father. not only did he influence leaders like dolores and cesar chavez, but to this day, after years of his passing, influencing so many generations, it's really a legacy that will last forever. and just very grateful that i have benefited from it. thank you. (applause) >> we just wanted to take a

quick photo and move on. (applause) >> thank you, supervisor mar, for honoring the house of labor who honors us by being in the house of the people. supervisor mar, do you have one additional commendation for today? >> let me be brief on this one. it's another very important institution that's celebrating 40 years. and i'd just like to ask if dr. laura schmidt, [speaker not understood], and the great folks from ucsf, philip arly

institute for health policy can come forward. i think many of you know that childhood obesity, the fight against childhood obesity is a growing national movement that takes community activism and organizing, but it takes great action-based researchers to really engage in our communities and really integrate them self-to support community organizing to address large food companies that are in many ways poisoning our children and our families as well. and today i'm asking my colleagues to join me in honoring the 40th anniversary of an incredible institution. again, it's the lee institute for health policy studies. and we're going to be declaring later in the meeting, hopefully with a unanimous vote, the february 27th, 2013 as philip r. lee institute day in san francisco. i wanted to also say quickly that the work of the institute is amazing in integrating with community-based organizations

and connecting some of the top -- world's top researchers in obesity, not only sugar and fat and how it impacts our brains, but also how children are targeted whether it's through ads or through chemicals that are in the food and super processed foods. but they're doing incredible research and are world renounced institution that many other cities look up to. the institute also really is about the future generations of our neighborhoods and i'm really proud to say that they're training health serves and researchers and really come from benefiting our neighborhoods in their research. i wanted to say that they partner quite a bit not only with the schools of medicine, denttry, nursing, pharmacy, but also countless other universities, government entities and especially community-based organizations. the partnerships with the institute and